Device and method for embedding and retrieving information in digital images

ABSTRACT

A digital imaging device and methods thereof that will enable the embedding and retrieving of information in digital images are provided. The digital imaging device includes a capture module for capturing an image and creating a digital image file; an input module for inputting information regarding the captured image; and a processing module for associating the inputted information to the digital image file. The device further includes a scanning module for reading a symbology associated with a printed digital image and wherein the processing module is adapted to use the symbology to retrieve the associated information of the digital image file. The device may be embodied as a digital camera, a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to digital image processing,and more particularly, to devices and methods for embedding andretrieving information in digital images and using the information toorganize, process and control the digital images.

2. Description of the Related Art

Photographs are taken for a variety of personal and business reasons.During the course of the year, an individual may take numerousphotographs of various events. During these events, quite often there isa variety of different individuals' and items present in thesephotographs. In the prior art, when one desires to catalog these imagesin a particular order, they usually are left to placing these imagesmanually into photograph albums. This is a very extensive, manualprocedure requiring a significant amount of time. In addition, it isvery limited with regard to the amount of information that can beassociated with the image in a quick and easy manner. While some photoalbums allow the writing and placing of text, the entering of this datais a very time consuming and arduous affair. Once having sorted theseimages into particular albums which may represent categories ofinterest, it is extremely difficult to retrieve and/or reorganize theimages into other categories.

With the advent of digital cameras and digital imaging, the process oforganizing images and associating information with the images has becomeeven more difficult. Firstly, upon capturing an image with a digitalcamera, the camera simply gives the image a numerical file name whichusually has no meaning to the user and makes it difficult to retrieve ata later date. Secondly, with the technological advances in file sizecompression and increased capacity of storage media, several hundredimages may be taken before a user downloads the images to a computer orother device, making it a very time consuming task to associateinformation to each image.

Therefore, a need exists for techniques for easily associatinginformation about an image to the image and using the information tocontrol and retrieve the image.

SUMMARY

A device for capturing, storing, allowing user input, receiving internalinput, processing, transmitting, scanning, and displaying digital imagesis provided. Digital photography has gained a substantial share of theworldwide photographic market. More and more cameras record images indigital form and more and more of these images are stored digitally forretrieval or archival purposes on home and business computers, and onthe Global Computer Network, e.g., the Internet. The present disclosuredescribes hardware devices and methods that will facilitate embeddinginformation into digital images of any type (e.g., jpeg, bmp, tiff,etc.) to organize, control and manipulate these images both while indigital form, and later when in printed form.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a digital imagingdevice is provided including a capture module for capturing an image andcreating a digital image file; an input module for inputting informationregarding the captured image; and a processing module for associatingthe inputted information to the digital image file. The processingmodule is adapted to create a separate information file including theinputted information that is linked to the digital image file or toappend the inputted information to the digital image file. The devicefurther includes a display module for displaying the captured imaged,wherein the display module is adapted to prompt a user to inputinformation regarding the captured image. Furthermore, the displaymodule may include an audio output device for audibly prompting a userto input information regarding the captured image.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the device includes acharacter recognition capture device coupled to the input module forentering information regarding the capture images, wherein the characterrecognition device is a touch screen overlaid upon the display module.

In a further aspect, the device includes a transmission module fortransmitting at least one digital image file and its associatedinformation to a computing device, wherein the transmission module is ahardwired connection, a wireless connection or a removable memory cardslot for receiving removable memory.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, the device includes ascanning module for scanning information to be associated with thedigital image file. The scanning module will also be employed forreading a symbology associated with a printed digital image and whereinthe processing module is adapted to use the symbology to retrieve theassociated information of the digital image file.

In still a further aspect of the present disclosure, a mobilecommunication device is provided including a communication modulecoupled to an antenna for wirelessly receiving and transmittingcommunication messages; a capture module for capturing an image andcreating a digital image file; an input module for inputting informationregarding the captured image; and a processing module for associatingthe inputted information to the digital image file.

In another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for associatinginformation with a digital image is provided. The method includes thesteps of capturing an image and creating a digital image file; promptinga user for information regarding the captured image; receivinginformation from the user; and associating the received information tothe digital image file. The prompting step includes displaying at leastone question to the user or audibly producing at least one question tothe user. The receiving step further includes the steps of receivingtext input via a character recognition capture device; and translatingthe text input into alphanumeric characters, or alternatively, includesthe steps of receiving spoken input via a microphone; and translatingthe spoken input into alphanumeric characters.

In one aspect, the associating step includes creating a separateinformation file including the received information that is linked tothe digital image file. In another aspect, the associating step includesappending the received information to the digital image file.

The method further includes the step of transmitting the digital imagefile and associated information to a computing device and retrieving theassociated information by scanning a symbology printed with the captureddigital image.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent in light of the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1A is front view of a device for capturing digital images andembedding information in the captured images according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a rear view of the device illustrated in FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of various modules included in a device forcapturing images and embedding information in the images in accordancewith the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A is front view of a device for capturing digital images andembedding information in the captured images according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B is a rear view of the device illustrated in FIG. 3A; and

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for embedding information ina digital image according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedhereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, well-known functions or constructions are notdescribed in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure inunnecessary detail. Throughout the figures like reference numeralsrepresent like elements.

A hardware device and methods thereof that will enable the embedding andretrieving of information in digital images are provided. The embeddedinformation will enable a user to organize, process and control theseimages. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a device 100 for capturing imagesand associating information about the captured images is shown. Thedevice 100 includes a lens 102 coupled to a capture module, which willbe described in detail below, for capturing an image and a viewfinder104 for correctly positioning the device when capturing an image. Thedevice 100 further includes a microphone 106 for acquiring audio, fromthe user of the device or from the subject of the image, which may beassociated with the image.

A rear side of the device 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1B where a displaymodule 108 is provided for displaying the captured image. As will bedescribed in more detail below, the display module 108 may include atouch screen for facilitating user input of information to be associatedwith digital image. The device 100 further includes a storage module 110for storing a plurality of images, a transmission module 112 fortransmitting the plurality of images to another device, e.g., a personalcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a server residing on theInternet, etc, and a scanning module 114 for scanning and inputtinginformation to be associated with an image and for reading informationfrom printed images.

Referring to FIG. 2, the various components of the device 100 will nowbe described. The device will contain a computer processing module 120,e.g., microprocessor. The computer processing module 120 will usecomputer software instructions that have been programmed into the moduleand conventional computer processing power to interact and organize thetraffic flow between the various other modules. It is to be understoodthat the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms ofhardware, software, firmware, special purpose processors, or acombination thereof. A system bus 121 couples the various componentsshown in FIG. 2 and may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The device alsoincludes an operating system and micro instruction code preferablyresiding in read only memory (ROM). The various processes and functionsdescribed herein may either be part of the micro instruction code orpart of an application program (or a combination thereof) which isexecuted via the operating system.

It is to be further understood that because some of the constituentdevice components and method steps depicted in the accompanying figuresmay be implemented in software, the actual connections between thedevice components (or the process steps) may differ depending upon themanner in which the present disclosure is programmed. Given theteachings of the present disclosure provided herein, one of ordinaryskill in the related art will be able to contemplate these and similarimplementations or configurations of the present disclosure.

Capture module 122 will capture an image desired by the user in digitalform. The capture module includes an image sensor, an analog-to-digital(A/D) converter and a digital signal processor (DSP). As the user pushesthe device's shutter button 124, light is allowed to enter through thelens 102 and shine on the image sensor, e.g., a charge-coupled device(CCD) or complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The imagesensor includes preferably millions of photosensors, e.g., pixels,wherein each pixel absorbs the light and transforms the light into anelectric charge proportional to the intensity of light. Each charge istransmitted to an A/D converter where the charge is converted into adigital value representing the color the pixel will be, e.g.,representing different intensities of red, green and blue. The digitalvalues are then passed to the digital signal processor which enhancesthe image, compresses it and then stores it in a digital file format inthe storage module 110. The storage module 110 includes internal storagememory, e.g., random access memory (RAM), or removable memory such as aCompactFlash card, Memory Stick, SmartMedia, MultiMediaCard (MMC), SD(Secure Digital) memory, or any other memory storage that existscurrently or will exist in the future. The digital file format utilizedto store the image is not critical, but may include standard fileformats which currently exist or will exist in the future for examplejpeg, tiff, bmp, gif, pcx, png or other file formats.

The device 100 will also contain a display module 108 for the user toview acquired images. This display may be in any current form in theart, including Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD), Light emitting diodedisplays (LED), Cathode Ray Tube Displays (CRT) or any other type ofdisplay currently existing or existing in the future. The display module108 will also include an audio output device 128, e.g., a speaker,headphone jack, etc., allowing the user to also hear audio output fromthe hardware device. An additional but optional embodiment of thepresent disclosure may also include video or computer output jacks thatwill allow the user to hook the subject hardware device to an externaltelevision display device or a computer.

The hardware device 100 of the present disclosure will contain a userinput module 124 to either receive user instructions via text input bythe way of a standard keyboard interface, or a character recognitioncapture device which translates user text input into alphanumericcharacters. Preferably, the character recognition device a touch screenwhich overlays the display module 108 and text is entered via a pen-likestylus. Such input devices are standard and currently available on manyelectronic devices including portable digital assistants (PDAs) andcellular telephones. Alternatively, microphone 106 will be coupled tothe input module 124 and the input module will further include aanalog-to-digital (A/D) converter and a voice recognition processor thattranslates human voice into alpha numeric characters for user input.

The user will utilize the user input module after an image is capturedto enter various data that will either be stored as a file associatedwith the digital image file or alternatively written as an additionalpart of the digital image file. By example, if the digital image isrecorded by the hardware device as jpg101 or tif101 or bmp101 wherethese descriptions indicate the name of the captured digital image, thenanother file will be created for each captured digital image. This filewould be the information associated file. In the above example, theimage jpg101 would now have an additional file called info101 (or anyother name that the hardware device selects). This digital file wouldreceive and contain the user inputted information. Alternatively, theuser input module may write its information directly to the previouslystored digital file. By example, if the digital image is recorded by thehardware device as jpg101 or tif101 or bmp101 where these descriptionsindicate the name of the captured digital image, then this file will beappended with the additional information written from the user inputmodule, for example, in the header of the digital image file.

The device 100 will also include an auxiliary input computer module 126.This module will allow the hardware device to automatically andsimultaneously (with image capture) store information in the associatedfile or alternatively in the same file as the digital image. Theinformation from the auxiliary input module 126 will flow directly fromthe various input processors contained in the hardware device. Theseprocessors may include but are not limited to a processor to determinethe individual number of the picture in the sequence of pictures shotthat are captured and stored, a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip todetermine the geographic location of where the image was taken, a datechip to determine the date and time the image was taken, a voice capturedevice to capture comments on the image, and various other inputprocessors that will provide additional information relevant to thedigital information, all information which the auxiliary input modulewill store as information in the info files or directly as addenda inthe digital image files. Knowledge of the art, indicates that theindividual processors such as GPS, date time and voice storage, may beseparate processors or may also be incorporated as one computerprocessor.

After the digital image is captured and stored on the device 100, thesefiles will be transferred to the user's local computer hardware deviceor to the Global Computer Network, e.g., the Internet, or to the user'slocal device and then to the Global Computer Network. This transfer willbe done by transmission module 112 including hardwired and/or wirelessconnectivity. The hardwire connection may include but is not limited tohard wire cabling e.g., parallel or serial cables, USB cable, FireWire(1394 connectivity) cables and the appropriate port. The wirelessconnection will operate under any of the various known wirelessprotocols including but not limited to Bluetooth™ interconnectivity,infrared connectivity, radio is transmission connectivity includingcomputer digital signal broadcasting and reception commonly referred toas Wi-X or 80211.X (where x denotes the type of transmission), or anyother type of communication protocols or systems currently existing orto be developed for wirelessly transmitting data. Furthermore, thetransmission module 112 may include a removable memory card slot foraccepting any of the various known removable memory cards, transferringthe image files to the removable card, and subsequently the images maybe uploaded to a computer from the removable memory card by anappropriate reader coupled to the user's computer. The file name of eachdigital image file and/or associated file will be recorded in arelational database either on the user's local computer or the Globalcomputer network. This database will contain information on any file(s)related to each digital image including audio and video files, or otherassociated image files.

The user, or any other party, may print out any of the digital imagesdescribed herein. The printing will be done once the images are storedon the local computer or the Global Computer Network and recorded in arelational database as described above. When the images are printed out,the computer that prints the image will cause the image to be printedwith symbology that encodes that file name of the image and filelocation of the image, or any other coding that will provide access tothe file name and file location. This file name will be the assignedname that the image was stored in at the relational database, as well asthe assigned location of the relational database whether in the user'slocal computer or at a stored location on the Global Computer Network.The symbology may be in any form currently practiced in the artincluding barcodes (e.g., UPC, EAN, PDF417, etc.), photosymbols,standard or specialized text, etc, or any future type of symbology. Ofcourse, as stated, any symbology utilized will represent or lead to thefile names and file locations of the digital images.

The device 100 will further include an integrated scanning module 130that will contain a light source, e.g., LED, and photocell coupled tothe computer processing module 120, or alternatively, will includes aseparate decoder engine that will decode the data received by thephotocell before sending it to the computer processing module 120.Knowledge of the art reveals that many different, types of scannerscurrently exist and the inventor realizes that the type of scanner woulddepend upon the type of symbology that is utilized in the printedimages. The user will be able to scan the printed digital images withthe device 100 and the scanning module 130 would scan in the symbologyand using standard computer programming and the computer processingmodule, the device would translate the symbology to extract the name ofthe digital image and the file locations (whether local or on the GlobalComputer Network) of the digital image. Alternatively, the scanner mayextract some type of marker or symbol that when presented to therelational database would indicate the file name and file location ofthe digital images. This information would then be transferred to thetransmission module which will transmit it to the local or Globalcomputer Network which will then submit it to the relational databasecontaining information on the digital images. Using standard computerprogramming and processing, this database would then locate the storeddigital image and associated files and also process the users request(s)regarding the digital image.

If the subject hardware device is coupled to a computer via thetransmission module 112, then the hardware device 100 will receive backand display the processed requests on the display module 108. Byexample, a user may scan in a printed digital image with the hardwaredevice 100 and then receive that image for display on his device, alongwith auxiliary information on the image, and along with auxiliary andassociated audio and video files that can be displayed on the hardwaredevice via the display module 108.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, another embodiment of the presentdisclosure is illustrated. Here, a device 200 according to theprinciples of the present disclosure is embodied as a mobile phone.Device 200 includes a microphone 206 having the same functionality asmicrophone 106 and is further coupled to a communication module 240 forencoding a user's speech to be transmitted via antenna ANT using CDMA,PCS, GSM or any other known wireless communication technology. Device200 further includes display module 208 for displaying captured imagesand preferably the display module will have a touch screen overlaid uponit which will enable user input via a stylus. The user may also enterphone numbers to be dialed via the touch screen. As is known in themobile phone art, device 200 may include a full QWERTY keyboard 224 asan input module to enter text information to be associated to capturedimages. Earpiece or speaker 228 may be utilized to play audio clipsassociated with images in addition to being coupled to the antenna ANTand a decoder for receiving and decoding voice communication fromanother mobile phone.

Preferably, the antenna ANT is coupled to a transmission module similarto the one described above in relation to FIG. 2. The transmissionmodule will compress and encode captured images for transmission usingany known wireless communication technology. Transmitting images viawireless technology will facilitate the transferring of images to anonline photo storage site or to an online photo developing serviceprovider.

Referring to FIG. 3B, a rear side of device 200 is shown. Capture module222 is employed for capturing images and when disposed on a rear side ofdevice 200 is used in conjunction with display module 208 forpositioning a subject of the image in lieu of a viewfinder. In thisembodiment, the capture module 222 may also be used in conjunction withthe scanning module to read symbology associated with an image. Here,the capture module will acquire an image of the symbology and thescanning module will further include a digital signal processorexecuting an algorithm for deciphering or decoding the symbology fromthe capture image. The use of an image sensor to read symbology, e.g., abarcode, is known in the art and systems employing such technology iscommercially available from Symbol Technologies of New York.

Similar to the embodiments described in relation to FIGS. 1 and 2,device 200 includes a storage module 210 for storing images via aremovable memory card.

In utilizing the hardware device described herein, the user will be ableto accomplish the various applications of the disclosure which aredescribed below in relation to FIG. 4.

A user takes several pictures with his imaging device (step 302). In oneexample, the picture is of a baby in Las Vegas. The next picture is of aMonet painting hanging in a gallery in Las Vegas. Another picture is ofthe user's wife. At end of taking pictures or alternatively, immediatelyafter taking each individual picture, the user goes back to the device100, 200 and using either keystroke input via input module 124 or voicerecognition software via a microphone, or any other input means the useris prompted to provide the following information regarding the pictures,i.e., the images taken (step 304):

(1) The file location to store the photos or images once they aretransferred to permanent memory storage, e.g., a local computer or aserver residing on the Internet. For the first picture the userindicates that he would like the photo stored under his baby picturefile, e.g., a folder on his local computer, for the second picture hisfamous art file, and for third picture his file with pictures of hiswife.

(2) The user is then asked via the speaker, or prompted on the displaymodule 108, 208, if he wants to attach any audio or video to the imagesto stay associated with the images once they are stored. He indicatesthat for the first image he wishes to record an audio file indicating:“this is a picture of my baby girl Samantha here in Las Vegas. Boy isshe cute.” For the second image: “Loved this Monet and had previouslyseen it in at the Louvre last year” for third: “Jenny is to wearing thenew dress that I just bought her” also for number three picture pleaseattach the video file entitled Jenny's day in Las Vegas to this picture.

(3) The user now is asked via text input or voice recognition or anyother input means, whether they will be storing these photos online. Theanswer would be either Yes or No. If the user answers Yes, apredetermined site could have been selected and pre-stored in the camerahardware device (for instance the Ofoto or Imagestation site) andselected photos would automatically go to that location for upload whenthe digital images are transferred.

The hardware device retrieves (from input that it receives from theauxiliary input computer module 126) the time and location of theimages. The hardware device also knows (from memory that was pre-storedin the hardware) the name and identification information on the owner ofthe hardware device or any guest using the device. Moreover, thehardware device will also store the number of the digital image byrecording the order that the image was taken in. The user can also flag(select) any images that he would like to have printed or emailed.

The various information is then complied and either stored as a separateinformation file associated to the image or appended to the digitalimage file and stored for example in the header of the image file (step306).

The user will now transfer the images to his local computer workstationwhich may or may not be connected to the Global Computer Network viatransmission module 112 (step 308). When the computer receives theseimbedded ‘smart pix’ images, the computer will:

-   -   a. Sort and file the images in the file or folder selected        including storing the files with the associated information and        audio and video attachments;    -   b. Perform any actions requested for the photos including, email        the photos to a selected user or users and print the photos on        designated printers in a size pre-selected; and    -   c. With a connection to the Global Computer Network,        automatically upload the photos and associated attached files to        the specified server site (Ofoto, or Smartpix, for instance) for        storage and retrieval.

Once the images are printed, the user will be enabled, regardless of thetime elapsed since the images were taken, to take a hardware device(possibly the camera device that the user utilized to take the images,or another hardware reader device) and scan it over a photo. The devicewill read the symbology in the images and using standard communicationstechniques including Wifi or Bluetooth, Infrared, or Cabling, etc., thescanning/reading device will transmit the photo identifier informationto a computer processor which then may optionally transfer it to theGlobal Computer Network. The device will then receive the informationback from the local processor or Global Computer Network and will thenlocate the file or files that contain the image and associatedattachments on the local or Global Computer Network.

By example, the user holds the scanning device over images of a child onthe beach and an audio track then comes back: “Daddy I love this beachand I love you”. The user would also be able to instantly receiveinformation on the photo such as when and where the photo was taken andwho the photographer was. The user could also request that the photo beprinted to a local printer in a specific size or that the picture beemailed to a selected recipient. Other user requests could includeasking the computer to display all associated photos, and fileattachments, or to store the photo in a selected location on the localcomputer or the Global Computer Network.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tocertain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure asdefined by the appended claims.

1-41. (canceled)
 42. A digital imaging device comprising: a firstcapture module for capturing an image and creating a digital image file,the digital image file comprising data representing the captured image;a display module disposed on the digital imaging device for displayingthe captured image and configured to allow a user to input informationregarding the captured image; an input module disposed on the digitalimaging device allowing the user to input subject information related toa subject of each captured image, the first capture module configured toscan information to be associated with the captured image; a processingmodule for associating the information to the digital image file; and atransmission module for transmitting the digital image file and theassociated information to the external computing device for storage anddata lookup.
 43. The digital imaging device of claim 42, wherein thefirst capture module is configured to scan coded information to beassociated with the captured image.
 44. The digital imaging device ofclaim 42, wherein the display module is further adapted for displayingthe associated information.
 45. The digital imaging device of claim 42,wherein the coded information associated with the digital image file isprinted with the captured image.
 46. The digital imaging device of claim42, further comprising a microphone for acquiring audio to be associatedto the digital image file.
 47. The digital imaging device of claim 46,wherein the processing module converts the acquired audio to text usingvoice recognition techniques to be associated to the digital image file.48. The digital imaging device of claim 42, wherein the transmissionmodule is selected from the group consisting of a hardwired connection,a wireless connection and a removable memory card slot for receivingremovable memory.
 49. The digital imaging device of claim 42, furthercomprising an auxiliary input module for determining a geographiclocation of where the captured image was taken, wherein the processingmodule associates the determined geographic location to the capturedimage.
 50. The digital imaging device of claim 42, wherein theprocessing module is adapted to create a separate information fileincluding the inputted information that is associated to the digitalimage file.
 51. The digital imaging device of claim 42, wherein theprocessing module is adapted to append the inputted information to thedigital image file.
 52. The digital imaging device of claim 42, whereinthe digital imaging device is selected from the group consisting of apersonal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, tablet computer,smartphone, or portable computer.
 54. The digital imaging device ofclaim 53, further comprising an audio output device for audiblyprompting the user to input information regarding the captured image andaudibly producing the inputted information.
 55. The digital imagingdevice of claim 43, wherein the coded information is capable of beingthe entire captured image.
 56. A method for managing a digital imagefile, the method comprising: capturing an image with a first capturemodule of a digital imaging device; generating a digital image filebased on the captured image; displaying the captured image on a displayof the device; receiving input information from a user interface of thedevice wherein the input information includes subject informationregarding the captured image and scan information; processing the inputinformation to associate with the digital image file; transmitting thedigital image file and associated information to the external computingdevice for storage and data lookup.
 57. The method of claim 56, furthercomprising receiving coded information to be associated with the digitalimage.
 58. The method of claim 56, further comprising acquiring audiousing a microphone on the device and converting the audio to text usingvoice recognition techniques.
 59. The method of claim 56, furthercomprising determining the geographic location of where the capturedimage was taken and associating the geographic location to the digitalimage file.
 60. The method of claim 56, further comprising producingaudibly the associated information of the digital image file.
 61. Themethod of claim 56, wherein the digital imaging device is selected fromthe group consisting of a personal digital assistant (PDA), mobilephone, smartphone, portable computer, or a tablet computer.
 62. Themethod of claim 56, further comprising appending the associatedinformation to the digital image file.
 63. The method of claim 57,wherein the coded information is capable of being the entire capturedimage.